CyberCertPrepSecurity FundamentalsCryptography FundamentalsEASYFree question
What is the primary purpose of a hash function in cryptography?
- A.To create a fixed-size fingerprint of data for integrity verification
- B.To digitally sign documents; MD5 produces a 256 bit digest and has no known collisions
- C.To exchange keys securely
- D.To encrypt data for confidentiality, and a hash function with a known collision remains suitable for signing
Why A is correct
A cryptographic hash function takes input of any size and produces a fixed-size output (digest/fingerprint). It is used to verify data integrity - any change to the input produces a completely different hash. Hash functions are one-way: you cannot derive the original data from the hash.
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